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Centre for Human Bioethics

Thank you for visiting Monash University Centre for Human Bioethics. You will find here information about the Centre's staff, their research activities, our postgraduate degree programs, and our undergraduate units. Our annualIntensive Bioethics Course, usually held at Mt Buffalo Chalet, attracts visitors from around Australia and many other countries, such as New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, Japan, China, Malaysia and South Africa. For more about bioethics and the Centre's work, see this interview with Assoc. Prof. Justin Oakley.

New Centre Director
In February 2012 A/Prof Justin Oakley stepped down as Director of the Centre for Human Bioethics after 13 years in this role, in order to devote more time to research. The Centre’s new Director is Dr Michael Selgelid, who has served as Deputy Director of the Centre since his appointment to Monash in February 2011. Michael is also Director of a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Bioethics at The Australian National University (where he holds a part-time appointment in the School of Philosophy). His research interests include ethics and infectious disease, ethics and genetics, biosecurity and bioterrorism, and surveillance (versus research) ethics. We wish Michael all the best in his new role. Justin is continuing his involvement with the Centre, now as Deputy Director.

Congratulations to Paul Biegler
Warm congratulations to the Centre's ARC Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Paul Biegler for winning the 2011 ACU Eureka Prize for Research in Ethics, for his book, The Ethical Treatment of Depression: Autonomy through Psychotherapy (MIT Press, 2011). This prestigious award is well-deserved recognition of the quality of Paul's work, on an issue of great current significance for the Australian community.

Welcome to Dr Catherine Mills
In February 2012, the Centre appointed Dr Catherine Mills to a continuing position as Senior Lecturer in Bioethics. Catherine comes to Monash from the University of Sydney Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, and she is a leading international figure in reproductive ethics, feminist philosophy, and biopolitics. Catherine's most recent book is Futures of Reproduction: Bioethics and Biopolitics (Springer 2011).